Definitely Defined

by Roni Johnson

Much of the time you’ll see paper beads made with pages from a magazine…little bits of various photos, advertisements and text all mixed up together. They are nice but I like to put a different spin on them and use plain old dictionary pages for my beads. These beads can then be inked to your liking. I also have a nifty little step that will kick your beads up a notch to give them a professional look and feel to them.

Skill: Intermediate
Time: 1 hour

Directions

Step 1

Trim away the “white space” areas of the dictionary page. Cut the dictionary pages into ¼” to ½” wide strips.

Step 2

Wrap each strip around a skewer, securing the end with a dab of liquid glue. You can wrap several beads on the skewer at one time without removing them. Once you have several beads made slide them all to the end of the skewer.

Step 3

Use a Kaleidacolor inkpad to color several beads at one time. Slide the ink pads together; rub the paper beads over the pad until you’re satisfied with the color. Remember to slide the ink pads apart once you have finished inking.

Step 4

Gently slide each bead off the skewer. Apply a small amount of liquid glue around the edge of one end of your rolls; insert an eyelet into the hole; flip and repeat on the other end of the bead. This extra little step will give a polished and professional look to your finished paper bead.

Step 5

Spritz the beads with Frost Sheer Shimmer mist to add a bit of sparkle to your beads. (optional)

Step 6

Working with each bead individually, place a bead on the end of the wood skewer. Rub the bead on a VersaMark ink pad, then dip it into clear embossing powder; heat the embossing powder to melt. If desired you may choose (while the melted embossing powder is still hot) to dip the bead into the powder again and melt one or more times. Each additional layer of embossing powder will create a thicker coat creating the look of a glass bead.

Now you may incorporate your paper beads into any project you desire. I choose to make myself a macramé paper bead bracelet.

Supplies

Imagine

• Kaleidacolor – Blue Breeze
• Sheer Shimmer Spritz – Frost
• VersaMark Inkpad
• Embossing Powder – Clear

Other

• Dictionary page(s)
• Liquid glue
• Eyelets

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